We all know that the color pink is for boys and the color blue is for girls — at least, that’s how it was 100 years ago. Grant and Martha share the surprising history behind the colors we associate with gender. Plus, we go rollin’ in our hooptie, play a game of guess-that-Google-search, and get [...]read more »

enta n.— «They’re not prisoners, they’re “detainees.” It sounds better, as if they’re merely inconvenienced rather than shoehorned into cinderblock cells, thumbing their military-issued Korans and waiting to be interrogated. One-third are innocents caught up in sweeps; one-third are jihadists who will slit your throat, and one-third are opportunists who will rat out their neighbors. You [...]read more »

Arabizi n.— «The banter is a form of speech that mixes Arabic with English. It is widely used among Jordan’s Western-educated elites, drawing ire from language purists and exposing a widening social and economic gap in the small kingdom. Dubbed by some “Arabizi”—a slang term for Arabic and “Inglizi,” or English in Arabic—it is also a [...]read more »

man-dress n.— «The fact that I had to dress up like an Iraqi to watch a meeting firsthand just goes to show that something’s wrong. What’s a gringo doing wearing a man-dress? Or jundee ameriki (american soldier) as they say in Arabic.» —“A Day of Play” by CJ in Iraq A Soldier’s Perspective Apr. 11, 2005. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)read more »

Chocolate Gravy 12/05/2016: Say you have an acquaintance you always see at the dog park or the playground. But one night, you run into them at the movies,... [more]

Fickle Finger of Fate 11/21/2016: A young woman wants a family-friendly way to describe a statement that's fraudulent or bogus, but all the words she can think of sound old-fashioned.... [more]

Stars and Garters 11/14/2016: Novelist Charles Dickens created many unforgettable characters, but he's also responsible for coining or popularizing lots of words, like "flummox" and "butterfingers." Also, the life's... [more]

Proof in the Pudding 11/05/2016: Have you ever offered to foster a dog or cat, but wound up adopting instead? There's an alliterative term for that. And when you're on... [more]

Boss of Me 10/31/2016: If you want to be a better writer, try skipping today's bestsellers, and read one from the 1930's instead. Or read something besides fiction in... [more]